Hendrina Herzbein
Hendrina Herzbein was a blood witch who lived in the Duchy of Bavaria, not far from the village of Waldbrück, during the early 6th century. The daughter of Goteleib and Swanahilda Herzbein and a member of the Heartbane family, Hendrina was a devout follower of the pagan Goddess despite the hold of Chistianity on Europe. Her mother was the leader of the Heartbane coven. Biography Early life Hendrina was born to Goteleib and Swanahilda Herzbein in the early 6th century. As both of her parents were members of the Herzbein family, Hendrina was a member of the early Heartbane coven when it was still mostly family members. Her mother was the high priestess of the coven by Hendrina's seventeenth year. One of Hendrina's earliest memories is that of a trip to the seashore with her father. Hendrina does not recall her father's feud with the Waroth living on the coast, nor the flooding believed to be caused by her father's dark magick. Shortly after returning, Hendrina's father died suddenly in his sleep. Hendrina was raised solely by her mother, who rarely spoke of her husband. Hendrina quickly developed powerful magickal abilities, and adopted her mother's belief in a pagan Goddess. She became friends with Sigilind Herzbein early in her life. Adolescence During her seventeenth year, Hendrina encountered Jeremias Greifbren while gathering herbs. She managed to entrap the boy with a charm, despite her mother's warnings about dark magick. During the spring, Hendrina's distant cousin Morgen le Fay, one of the Queens of Avalon, traveled to Hendrina's village in search of the Heartbane coven. She immediately recognized Hendrina as the most powerful witch in the coven, and brought her back to Avalon with the intention of teaching her magick and training her to become the leader of Avalon after she and her sisters passed. Hendrina rejected the offer, though she agreed to learn from the le Fay sisters. Morgen convinced Hendrina to consider it by mentioning she could marry one of the Pendragon brothers, who were part Griffbyrne like Jeremias. Hendrina's charm allowed her to work powerful love magick with Jeremias, including a union rite on Beltane. Hendrina soon became pregnant, though she kept her pregnancy a secret. However, Hendrina misplaced her charm and received a message from Jeremias telling her that he would never see her again. Heartbroken, Hendrina remained in bed for days before convincing Sigilind and Alfwin Reibyrne to take her to Jeremias' village of Gudenheim to inform him of their growing child. While there, Hendrina discovered that Jeremias was betrothed to Subine Willowwand. Hendrina became desperate to draw Jeremias back to her, using a poppet embroidered with his name. She managed to meet Jeremias and informed him of their child, and he intended to run off and marry her immediately. However, he was prevented from doing so by Subine, who tracked Hendrina down and warned her from bothering Jeremias further. The girls traded curses before Subine accused Hendrina of witchcraft. Fall to darkness Hendrina was imprisoned in a springhouse in her village and tried before her neighbors, with her mother coming to her defense. The Reverend revealed that Hendrina was pregnant, causing her mother to faint and the people to believe that her child was spawn of the devil. Though Jeremias was present, he paid no attention to Hendrina and did not come forward to claim the child as his own. Hendrina realized that she had been betrayed and saw that Jeremias was a coward. She was sentenced to hang. The night before her execution, Jeremias came to visit her and attempted to rape her. She fought him off and managed to work a spell that destroyed the village of Gudenheim, as well as Jeremias, Subine, and the Reverend. She was set free after the destruction was discovered and attributed to dark magick, for which she was responsible. Rejected by her mother, Hendrina traveled to Avalon to accept Morgen's offer. However, Morgen and her sisters discovered Hendrina's dark acts around the time of the Battle of Camlann and decided to create a council to uphold their beliefs rather than allow her to rule the magickal world. Once again feeling betrayed, Hendrina returned to Bavaria to be discovered by Aenor Herzbein, a former member of her mother's coven who had been trying to find a leader for a new coven that practiced dark magick. Hendrina agreed to join the coven and became its high priestess, and taught her new coven the killing curse and other forbidden spells. Physical appearance Hendrina was a small wisp of a girl with black hair and dark eyes. She believed herself to be plain and of average appearance. Etymology Hendrina is the feminine form of Hendrik, the Dutch and Estonian cognate of Henry. Henry is derived from the Germanic name "Heimrich", which meant "home ruler", composed of the elements "heim", meaning "home", and "ric", meaning "power, ruler". It was later commonly spelled "Heinrich", with the spelling altered due to the influence of other Germanic names like "Haganrich", in which the first element is "hagan", meaning "enclosure".Category:Females Category:Blood witches Category:Heartbane family Category:Heartbanes Category:6th century births Category:Spellwriters Category:Dark witches